Oddly Wired
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social dynamics

You stop helping the moment a witness appears.

The bystander effect shows that the presence of other people decreases your likelihood of acting in an emergency.

When multiple people witness an event, individual responsibility is diffused. You wait for someone else to act first, and the group remains frozen, assuming someone more qualified will intervene.

The more witnesses there are, the less likely anyone is to move.

Where this comes from

Study
Latané and Darley, 1968
What the check found
The claim accurately represents the findings of Latané and Darley's 1968 research on social psychological interventions in emergencies.
Confidence
Well replicated

Related

One of these every day, and every one names the study it came from. When a finding is contested, it says so.